WhatsApp allows Android users to recover deleted photos, videos

A man poses with a smartphone in front of displayed Whatsapp logo in this illustration September 14, 2017. /REUTERS

WhatsApp users on Android can now recover media that they have deleted.

Any pictures, videos, GIFs, documents or voice notes that were sent and subsequently deleted can be recovered.

The update is available now to Android users worldwide but WhatsApp has not revealed whether it will release the feature to iPhone users.

With the ability to recover deleted information, concerns have arisen over the storage of personal information on the WhatsApp servers.

Parent company Facebook has been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks as it was revealed 87 million of its users had their personal information harvested and used by the political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook has issued a series of apologies for the privacy breach and incorporated drastic changes to its privacy policies to stem the flow of thousands of users leaving the platform.

According to a report on WABetaInfo, the latest version of WhatsApp for Android (2.8.113) will allow users to re-download older media files.

It used to be the case that WhatsApp would store undownloaded media on its servers for 30 days before deleting.

This appears to have changed with the latest update.

The re-downloading option is only available for files from WhatsApp chats that have not been deleted by either user.

To re-download media, open WhatsApp and go to the Chats page to find the thread that contains the file you're after.

Once you've tracked it down, just tap on it to save it to your phone.

Under new laws coming into force next month, WhatsApp will be required to comply with data retention guidelines that state it shouldn't hold onto personal data longer than is proportional to its service.

WhatsApp claims that the end-to-end encryption service that it employs protects the messages from being read by anyone - including WhatsApp and Facebook.

It claims that this encryption means that although information and media is saved for longer on the servers, it is completely secure.

It says: "Deleting messages for everyone allows you to delete specific messages you have sent to either a group or an individual chat. This is particularly useful if you sent a message to the wrong chat or if the message you sent contains a mistake."

To delete a message, open WhatsApp and go to the chat containing the message you want to delete.

Tap and hold the message, then choose Delete from the menu.

Tap 'Delete for everyone' and the message will disappear.

Messages you successfully delete for everyone will be replaced with 'This message was deleted' in your recipients' chats.

After that deadline, WhatsApp users are only able to delete the message from their own device.

Other recipients in the chat will still be able to see the message.

During the Cambridge Analytica debacle, 87 million Facebook users had their personal information harvested by to influence voting patterns.

Cambridge Analytica, run by former White House senior adviser Steve Bannon and billionaire campaign benefactor Robert Mercer, was hired by the Trump campaign during the 2016 president election.

It is believed that the data taken from people via the app was used to assist in the propaganda and electing of Donald Trump to president of the US.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, admitted that his own information was taken in the scandal.

The admission came in front of US congress as he was quizzed about his role in the pilfering of information from his social media site.